Gainesville's water customers could see their rates increase in January 2012 by a few dollars each month.

The current rate would increase 4.25 percent for fiscal year 2012 and 5 percent each year for the next five years. Officials with the city's public utilities department explained the increase to Gainesville City Council members Friday during a daylong workshop at the Frances Meadows Aquatic and Community Center.

"People ask me why the rates haven't come down, but the expected growth that we counted on to pay for the big ticket items didn't continue," said Kelly Randall, public utilities director. "You wouldn't believe what I'm saying given the recent census numbers, but the growth just isn't there right now."

The increase would mean a $2 or $3 bump for a single-family house in the city that uses an average amount of water.

Council members approved a $1.22 decrease in the account servicing fee for water users outside of the city, which means Hall County residents will see no change or a $1 increase in their bill, depending on their water use.

The increase would help with stagnant growth during the economic downturn. Public utilities workers sold almost 2,500 water meters in 2007, which dropped to 926 in 2008, continued to drop in 2009 and 2010 and is projected to reach 200 this year. Likewise, the department sold 510 wastewater taps in 2007, which dropped to 161 in 2008, continued to drop and may reach 20 this year.

"Who would have expected this year to be worse than last year?" Randall said. "At the same time, some of the industries, especially poultry, are doing better because people don't eat beef tenderloin during the economic turndown."

Industries, which use the largest chunk of water and wastewater services in the city, account for a third of the department's revenues.

"That's really helping us out right now to be more stable, so it's important to look at who's paying the bill," Randall said. "When you're raising the rates, you have to look at how it affects business in our community."

The changes are lower than what officials predicted at the 2010 workshop. At that time, Randall thought the 2012 rate would increase by 6 percent, followed by 8 percent in 2013 and 8.5 percent in 2014 before falling back to a 6 percent increase in 2015.

"The staff is working hard to keep the rates down as low as they can, and we'll move forward," Mayor Pro Tem Danny Dunagan said. "I'm very pleased with these numbers because last year we were looking at a 6.5 rate increase and now worst case scenario would be 4.25."

Council members will approve a final rate this fall.

They decided Friday to wait on the outcome of an appeal of U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson's ruling on the authorization of Lake Lanier for drinking water. The ruling would determine how much water the city can draw from the lake and how soon officials must consider a big ticket project such as the planned Glades Reservoir.

"Getting the lake reauthorized is the only real solution, and we all believe that Glades Farm needs to be built, but how soon does it need to be done?" Randall said.

"Let's sit down together for this community and figure that out. We don't need to make a fast deal that's not good for us."

For now, the key word is perseverance, said Ben Williams with Jordan, Jones and Goulding-Jacobs Engineering.

"You're on a persistent course of action, and you need to keep looking beyond 2012 for water sources," he said.

"Experience has trained me to know that reservoirs take 15 years, and if you subtract from when we may need it in 2025, you're right on track with permitting. It can happen but not real fast."

Hall County Commissioners Billy Powell and Craig Lutz attended the workshop and asked several questions related to the rate increase as well as Cedar Creek and Glades reservoirs.

"I see some encouraging items, but I see some that concern me, too," Lutz said.

"I think we agree that the health of Gainesville is important to the health of the whole county, and Glades Farm could help everyone from an economic development standpoint. That's why we all need to look at this together."